Who helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and delivered the 'I Have a Dream' speech?

• A. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• B. Rosa Parks
• C. John Lewis
• D. Ella Baker

Answer: (A)

Martin Luther King Jr. is the person who both helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech. He helped establish the SCLC in 1957 to organize nonviolent civil rights campaigns across the South and served as its most visible leader, guiding efforts to end segregation through peaceful means. The "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered at the March on Washington in 1963, put his vision of racial equality and justice into a powerful, widely shared moment that helped mobilize broad support for civil rights legislation. Rosa Parks sparked a pivotal boycott, John Lewis played a crucial role in the movement through SNCC, and Ella Baker contributed behind the scenes, but the speech and the founding leadership point to King as the central figure here.